First post, but have been a user of this forum under guest status for a while now whilst getting ready to move from rat race to not racing... I would love to hear the collective answer to the question - where would you go to make that change?

Longer synopsis - my wife and I are 30/31 and have decided that the standard pursuit of careers / money / stuff we don't need isn't driving us. I believe this pursuit is wholly unsustainable anyway (life for the majority in the debt fueled UK is going to look considerably bleaker after the next 5-10 years) and we’re both country folk originally so leaving London to return was always our objective. We've realized however how little real fulfillment our jobs give us, we want to start a family and really be much more focused on things in life that matter - care for self, care for the planet, community and creating a stable family environment.

We've spent about 18 months getting ourselves in order - removing debts (everything apart from the current mortgage) and have spent time getting new skill foundations - E.G. WWOOFing, I have accrued 2 Permaculture Design Certificates (I don't suggest for a second that the skills we have started to gain will make this easy but you need to start somewhere, right?).

We've really tried to rationalize our plan, deciding what we want out of this change and why we are doing it - not just jumping in two feet first . Examples are we want to enjoy our lives, have somewhere we want call 'home' for ourselves and children, be stimulated, healthy and more resilient rather than just relying on money for everything.
Our original plan was to move westwards so put our current home on the market. We've been lucky - the London (pretend) 'boom' has hopefully helped us accrue some equity, but even still to buy in this country comes with a substantial 'death loan' and we're now seriously considering further afield. I could come to terms with a mortgage of say 49% LTV, but in the UK the only option appears to be enslaved financially - that's where we and indeed my generation are now and it doesn't seem sensible to take the same approach moving forward.

So where next…wife used to be proficient in French and maybe could freelance in her current line of work remotely. We're realistically restricted to the EU given the lack of expatriating without immediate work - also it seems we could go to France et al without a mortgage around our necks. I know this is likely unique for someone our age which is why we are so keen to get the move right and make this an opportunity rather than continue to be part of the consumerist problem.
So where would you go? Would you stay nearer family and friends (who are all a little bit confused about us changing things so drastically) but likely compromise what you are trying to achieve or go further afield to do it, but knowing the huge challenge starting in a different culture entails.

When Richard Branson bought Necker Island he offered $180,000- it was on sale for $6million and he was told to go away. Years later when no-one had made a better offer he got it (and by then he could more than afford it).

What I guess I'm trying to say is find the country or place you want live in then try your luck - you never know - rather than the other way around.

You do need to know what you want to do though, land does need work to keep it in good condition and unemployment is very high so you need to arrange some kind of income. We did it in our late 40's and if I knew then what I knew now, my only change would be to sort out our finances better and make the change sooner.

In a perfect world I would have a small UK house I owned outright to rent out and live off of that income here as living is cheap, I would then take my time doing up the property here as money allowed. My husband had a remote working job when we moved here but that fell through after a few months and he has had to go back to the UK to work to pay our mortgage.

Our original plan was to move westwards so put our current home on the market.

West is still dear, have you looked North?

Hi, thanks. yes looked at north, Wales, Yorkshire a little - wife has some family around Stratford Upon Avon so a brief eye on surrounding counties. There does seem to be the odd property - 2/3 in a year across all locations that might work - but even then in most cases the mortgage would feel huge... this is the issue I suppose. Not that we can't do it in the UK, but doing it without being exposed to the even a small movement in interest rates (which I should think after May 2015 will start to rise to normalized levels) is difficult to say the least.

When Richard Branson bought Necker Island he offered $180,000- it was on sale for $6million and he was told to go away. Years later when no-one had made a better offer he got it (and by then he could more than afford it).

What I guess I'm trying to say is find the country or place you want live in then try your luck - you never know - rather than the other way around.

Welcome to the forum BTW.

Hi vegplot - will keep an eye out for islands! Seriously, thanks - its a good point. This would be notably easier if we were really pulled to location, but for now I'm hopeful that the objectives will lead us there.

Not that we can't do it in the UK, but doing it without being exposed to the even a small movement in interest rates (which I should think after May 2015 will start to rise to normalized levels) is difficult to say the least.

You can fix your mortgage rate for as long as you want - you'll end up paying more to start but you'll not have any surprise.

It's hard to offer any advice without knowing more about you. How much cash would you have to spend on a house for example, what sort of jobs you do etc, etc.

One thing, I gather the majority of people who move abroad end up coming back, if that's the case I'd expect you'll be in a much worse situation financially so think it through very carefully.

I think it is quite important to work out what is most important to you, maybe even do an exercise to rank these things, to help decide on the home/abroad thing.

We are a lot older - 53 and 61 - and just did a move from Manchester to Lincolnshire last year which involved a lot of compromise - just a village house with a big garden rather than the whole smallholding thing we might once have thought of - but seemed right for the time of life. We thought of France many years ago. Think partner was more attracted by adventure of somewhere new but then made other decisions such as adopting an older child (with ties to northern England), which changed things.

What we are going now is what it turned out I wanted - which is to be in England but in the country not the city - more than what partner wanted - which has its own difficulties.

I think underneath I've always known that I didn't want to be too far from mother, daughter, now grandchildren etc.

More than that perhaps I also realise now just how much I like rural England. I love France, Italy, other places for holidays, but I don't love them like I love here.

But you say that you don't have a strong pull to any one place. I thought I didn't, but now I'm here I love it with a passion - something about the act of choosing, I think.

So, do you want:

an adventure
a project
somewhere to put down roots
to keep options open (e.g. for coming back if go abroad)
somewhere suitable for a particular dream (breed pigs, build your own house, grow fruit, run a holiday house etc etc)?

and so on...

Good luck with it. I'm sure if we'd done this nearer your age (were only just together then, though) we'd have been somewhere different. But I like where I am now.

Not that we can't do it in the UK, but doing it without being exposed to the even a small movement in interest rates (which I should think after May 2015 will start to rise to normalized levels) is difficult to say the least.

You can fix your mortgage rate for as long as you want - you'll end up paying more to start but you'll not have any surprise.

It's hard to offer any advice without knowing more about you. How much cash would you have to spend on a house for example, what sort of jobs you do etc, etc.

One thing, I gather the majority of people who move abroad end up coming back, if that's the case I'd expect you'll be in a much worse situation financially so think it through very carefully.

Agreed - fixing is available, but not for any real length of time when you consider a mortgage is between 25-35 years now. The exposure to the change still exists, but it is of course deferred.

I would hope we could budget around £150k for either deposit here or outright purchase abroad. This should hopefully leave a bit to ensure we can set up and not need employment for 6-12 months. On the job front, we are overhauling - wife can freelance, but we would look to derive an income from the property if abroad. I know this is a well trodden path, but with much lower living costs (i.e just without the mortgage) this is not easy, but certainly easier. If we could similarly derive some sort of tourism lead income here that would be great, but the cost of obtaining a property suitable to do so would likely be prohibitive.

If we were to go abroad we would probably take the time to rent there for a short period to go some way towards mitigating the whole 'we hate it and need to come back' issue.

I think it is quite important to work out what is most important to you, maybe even do an exercise to rank these things, to help decide on the home/abroad thing.

We are a lot older - 53 and 61 - and just did a move from Manchester to Lincolnshire last year which involved a lot of compromise - just a village house with a big garden rather than the whole smallholding thing we might once have thought of - but seemed right for the time of life. We thought of France many years ago. Think partner was more attracted by adventure of somewhere new but then made other decisions such as adopting an older child (with ties to northern England), which changed things.

What we are going now is what it turned out I wanted - which is to be in England but in the country not the city - more than what partner wanted - which has its own difficulties.

I think underneath I've always known that I didn't want to be too far from mother, daughter, now grandchildren etc.

More than that perhaps I also realise now just how much I like rural England. I love France, Italy, other places for holidays, but I don't love them like I love here.

But you say that you don't have a strong pull to any one place. I thought I didn't, but now I'm here I love it with a passion - something about the act of choosing, I think.

So, do you want:

an adventure
a project
somewhere to put down roots
to keep options open (e.g. for coming back if go abroad)
somewhere suitable for a particular dream (breed pigs, build your own house, grow fruit, run a holiday house etc etc)?

and so on...

Good luck with it. I'm sure if we'd done this nearer your age (were only just together then, though) we'd have been somewhere different. But I like where I am now.

Thanks VM - pleased to hear you are in the right place.

I think there is a connection for us both to this green and pleasant landscape - its where we are both from. That said my generation are have some difficult decisions to make if they pay attention and I'm doing my best think ahead. For most the chance to make this move in the future even in the way you have will be very difficult. Whilst some may look on confused at what we are doing I think its important to do this before its out of reach. The alternative really does feel like a 70 hour work week, just to survive in suburbia, in the hope of reaching a retirement age somewhere around 70 and then I might be able to live on my own terms for a few years.

Sorry if that sounds a bit rant like - to answer your question I think we want all of what you have put down (maybe less the coming back option given we do want to be in a long term home). Wherever we end up its certainly going to be an adventure.

Welcome..
I guess my view on this is coloured a little by our own experience. My own view is that children (when they come along) do change things... Even it you thought you'd planned for them to the nth degree... So if children are up there in the priority list, try to think about what might be important when they come along. Whilst we don't depend upon family and friends for childcare, having close family around/available does make a difference... If that's not going to be possible making sure that you are easily able to develop some good and dependable local friendships and networks will really help.